Bobby and the the other nine martyrs have left a l...

2008-05-09T10:18:00.000+01:00

Bobby and the the other nine martyrs have left a legacy that cannot be overstated. Three years ago, myself, Wille Gallagher and Cocker Murray, (two INLA ex prisoners) visited Cuba on a working, solidarity trip.

We were amazed and humbled by the fact that we were able to visit a memorial for the ten 1981 hunger strikers.

It was a stone sculpture set on the edge of a pretty park in the Vedado district of Havana. The names of the ten martyrs was enscribed on the structure as well as a speech given by Fidel Castro to the UN in which berated the British Government for its "bestial" cruelty in allowing the ten young men to suffer such a tortuous end.

We laid a flag and paid a minutes respect.

I was lucky enough to get back to Cuba last year just after the anniversary Michael Devine and went alone to leave another flag at the memorial.

There have been few times in my adult life when I have been moved close to tears and this was one.

As I approached the memorial i saw a woman sittin on the step of the memorial cleaning it with a bucket and brush.

The woman, whos name I can't remember, Lived over the street and came out every once in a while to keep the stone structure "nice for the poor boys who died".

She was very proud of the stone outside her house and so was I.

Bobby and the others undoubtedly achieved change to the prison system with their actions. It's a screaming shame that the same compliment cannot be paid to the erstwhile comrades for their efforts in banishing the governmental system that imprisoned the ten young republicans then and continues to imprison young Republicans today.

Comments on The Pensive Quill: 5th of May

Bobby and the the other nine martyrs have left a l...